MEDIA RELEASE UPDATE

A 60-year-old man who was critically injured when he was pinned beneath a loaded dump truck at the Kukio Resort died Monday (August 16, 2004) at the Kona Community Hospital.

The victim, identified as Tony Uemura, of a Captain Cook address, was pronounced dead at 1:35 p.m.

Traffic Enforcement Unit officers have classified the death as a coroner’s inquest and have ordered an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death.

Responding to a 9:54 a.m. call, Kona patrol officers determined that Uemura was driving the fully loaded dump truck on a construction road in Kaupulehu, North Kona, when it overturned, pinning the driver under the machine. He was freed by fellow construction workers before fire rescue and police arrived.

The victim was flown by helicopter to the Kona Community Hospital, where he underwent surgery and later died.

Because the incident occurred on a private road, the death was not counted as a traffic fatality in the police department’s traffic statistics.